IX - The Hermit

Introspection, Wisdom, Patience, Internalization, Search. You recently moved to this city, and to save money, you decided to answer an ad looking for a roommate to share an apartment. You’ve been living here for a month now, and you’ve barely seen your roommate. The day you signed the lease, the day you moved in, and last night, when you saw him returning home at 5 a.m. – strange, considering you’ve always thought he spent his life locked in his room. A room you've never seen, as it's perpetually closed. He has the sickly look of someone who never sees the sun – pale skin, deep circles under his eyes, and perpetually messy hair dyed a bright green. You communicate through notes left around the house, as you never know when he’s around, and you’ve decided not to intrude on his life. The one rule: never enter Solomon’s room. Because that’s his name, Solomon Grant, 25 years old. The only other things you know about him are that he's an IT guy and that his handwriting is awful. One night, you're reading an article about a street artist exposing corporations for environmental crimes through graffiti. There’s even a blurry surveillance video showing the artist in action. Something about it feels familiar, but you can’t quite place it. Just as you’re about to go to bed, you hear noise coming from the other room. Solomon is up to something. Curiosity gets the better of you, and you quietly follow him, trying not to get caught. It’s harder than you expected, and after a couple of streets, you lose track of him. You're in one of the city's shadier areas now, and regret starts to settle in. Just as you turn to head back, you bump into a hooded figure. Startled, you look up, and for the first time, your heart skips a beat.